This invention relates to technology for assembling a thin plate assembly product to be used in a front light unit and the like of a portable telephone.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a structure of a general front light unit. A front light unit 1 of a portable telephone or the like is, as shown in FIG. 1, constituted so that a light guide body 4 and a light guide pipe 5 are manually inserted into a holder 3 to which FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) 2 with LED (Light Emitting Diode) not shown, is mounted (for example, see FIG. 2).
The holder 3 has a U shape, and the FPC 2 with LED is adhered to an upper surface of the holder 3. The LED is positioned in both ends of the holder 3. The light guide body 4 has a sawtooth-shaped surface which is called as a prism surface on its one side, and its surface range becomes an effective light emitting area. A thickness of the light guide body 4 is slightly thicker than an opening of the U-shaped portion of the holder 3, and a width of the light guide body 4 is shorter than a width of the holder 3. The light guide pipe 5 has a plate shape, and its thickness is slightly thicker than the opening of the holder 3, and its width is shorter than the holder 3 and slightly longer than the light guide body 4.
When the light guide body 4 and the light guide pipe 5 are inserted, firstly in order to remove dust of insertion portions, an air is allowed to sufficiently blow onto the holder 3 by air blow. As shown in FIG. 2, the FPC 2 with LED is adhered to the holder 3. The light guide pipe 5 is manually inserted into the opening of the holder 3. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the holder 3 into which the light guide pipe 5 has been already inserted is installed on an assembly jig 6, and the light guide body 4 is inserted into the opening of the holder 3 until it butts against the light guide pipe 5 (arrow a in FIG. 4).
After insertion, in order to adjust the holder 3 and the light guide body 4 into a predetermined positional relationship in a width wise direction, the light guide body 4 is slid to a butting portion of the assembly jig 6 (arrow b in FIG. 4). Since the thickness of the light guide body 4 is slightly thicker than the opening of the holder 3, the light guide body 4 and the light guide pipe 5 are fixed to the holder 3. The assembly product is removed from the assembly jig 6 (see FIG. 5), and dust is removed from the surface by air blow. Next, in order to conduct detection of scratch and dust on the surface of the light guide body 4 of the assembly product and the light emitting test of LED, a clip for checking light emission of LED is attached to a terminal portion of the FPC 2 attached to the holder 3 so that a light is emitted from the LED. The surface of the light guide body 4 is visually checked for scratch and dust so that the check is ended.
However, according to the conventional assembly method, since the thicknesses of the light guide body 4 and the light guide pipe 5 are thicker than the opening of the holder 3, when the light guide body 4 and the light guide pipe 5 are manually inserted into the holder 3, they rub so as to damage the prism surface of the light guide body 4 or the surface of the light guide pipe 5. As a result, an amount of a light converged on the prism surface is lowered, and uniform light emission cannot be obtained. Namely, the ability of the product is possibly lowered.
In addition, since the manual operation is normally performed, the fixing force of the light guide body 4 and the light guide pipe 5 to the holder 3 is not constant, and the light guide body 4 is shifted after assembly. Namely, there arises a problem that a stable quality cannot be obtained. Further, since a series of the operations from the assembly to the check is manually performed, there arise problems that dust or scratch are generated and productivity is not good.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of and apparatus for thin plate assembly, and a computer product which are capable of assembling a thin plate assembly product such as a light guide body efficiently and securely without damaging the thin plate.
According to the present invention, an edged member (blade) having separated two forward ends is inserted into an opening of a U-shaped member (holder), and a gap between the two forward ends of the inserted edged member is widened so that a width of the opening is expanded, and a thin plate is inserted into the opening with expanded width, and after that the edged member is drawn from the opening.
Thus, even if the thin plate is inserted into the opening of the U-shaped member, a width thereof is narrower than the thickness of the thin plate, the insertion and assembly can be carried out smoothly without damaging the thin plate, and a number of handling times is reduced and the quality of products can be improved.
In addition, in a state that the edged member is drawn from the opening, light emission of LED attached to the U-shaped member may be checked. Moreover, in the state that the edged member is drawn from the opening, static electricity charged on the U-shaped member and the thin plate may be destaticized. Moreover, in the state that the edged member is drawn from the opening, a fixing force between the U-shaped member and the thin plate may be measured.
In addition, the U-shaped member is moved to a direction where it reaches the edged member so that the edged member may be inserted into the opening. As a result, when the edged member is inserted, it is not necessary to move the edged member itself. Moreover, the opening may be expanded so that its width becomes wider than the thickness of the thin plate. As a result, when the thin plate is inserted into the opening, the thin plate does not come into contact with the opening.
Other objects and features of this invention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.